The site hosts links to thousands of movies, TV shows and songs, much of it shared illegally, and its operators have had several run-ins with the law.

Tuesday's raid comes a month after a fugitive cofounder of the site, Hans Fredrik Lennart Neij, was detained at the Laos border while trying to enter Thailand. He was convicted in 2009 of assisting in copyright infringement and had been wanted by Sweden ever since.

"Pirate Bay is an illegal commercial service that makes considerable earnings by infringing the works of others," the organization said in a brief statement. "The infringements affect all creators and also hinders the growth of legal services."

The same group filed a complaint against The Pirate Bay in 2013. In that instance, its Internet connection was being provided by the Swedish Pirate Party, which was threatened with legal action if it didn't disconnect the site. As a result, The Pirate Bay moved its hosting from Sweden, to servers in Norway and Spain.